Decor
Decor is a measure of how beautiful a place is. It is affected by almost everything: Furniture, Wires, Plants, Critters and Duplicants, just to name a few.
What affects Decor?
Decor in a tile is influenced by many different items. Almost everything has a decor value (be it positive or negative) and a radius - the number of tiles its effect covers. For example, some plants, pieces of art, and the printing pod increase decor. Decor is decreased by things like dropped resources (debris), machines, wires, ladders, and storage bins. The Decor value in a tile is the sum of all the individual Decor values of items which include that tile in their Decor radius.
Window Tiles and Pneumatic Doors let Decor pass through them. This can be especially helpful if Artwork cannot be placed to increase Decor, for example in areas containing densely placed machines.
Mechanized Airlock and Manual Airlock do not allow Decor to pass through while closed, which can be used to block negative Decor areas while still allowing Duplicants to pass though when needed.
Materials and Decor
An item's decor value can be affected by the material it is built with. For example, Granite lists a value of +20% for Decor; this means the base Decor of whatever is built from Granite gets multiplied by 1.2. Negative Decor is also positively affected, with wires made of copper having 0.9 times the base Decor of the wire.
| Material Category | Material | Decor Bonus | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metal Ore | 
|
+10% | |
|
Overheat Temperature +50°C Thermally Reactive | ||
| Refined Metal | 
|
+50% | Overheat Temperature +50°C High Thermal Conductivity Thermally Reactive |
| Raw Mineral | 
|
+20% | Overheat Temperature +15°C |
|
Overheat Temperature +200°C Insulator | ||
| Transparent | 
|
+100% | Overheat Temperature +200°C High Thermal Conductivity |
In some cases, it may be better to choose a material with a lower or no Decor bonus. Diamond, for example, has a very high thermal conductivity, which may be undesirable, so Glass should better be used.
Other effects on decor
- Lighting gives a +15 Decor bonus, independent of its brightness. Coupled with the "Lit Workspace" speed bonus, this makes light very useful in industrial areas.
- Duplicant outfits by themselves have -5 Decor. This can be counteracted by giving them a Snazzy Suit, which gives +30 Decor, or upgrading one of these to Primo Garb with +40 Decor. Warm Coats, however, have -10 Decor penalty.
- Some non-decorative Plants have a positive decor value, giving farms some decor without Furniture.
- Critters have a positive decor value, some a very high one. Shine Bugs and their advanced morphs especially.
The Decor Overlay
By pressing F8, the Decor Overlay can be accessed, which displays decor values. Tiles with positive decor are tinted green and tiles with negative decor are tinted red. When tile moused over, Decor in that tile as well as a detailed report of everything contributing to Decor is displayed. Everything that contributes to Decor in that tile (potted Plants, for example), positively and negatively, gets a bright tint. If Decor in a tile reaches 120, "(Maximum Decor)" will be displayed behind that value and it won't increase. This refers to 120 being the maximum Decor Duplicants get a Morale bonus for (See "Decor Calculations"). However, Decor is not limited to 120 and can exceed that value by quite a lot if many decorative items are placed in an area.
Decor Calculations
Duplicants evaluate decor from their lower half. Every Duplicant has a Decor perception value (labelled just "Decor"; referred to as "Perceived Decor" in the following), which can be looked at in the "Status" tab under "Condition" when selecting a Duplicant. When hovering over it, three more stats can be seen: Current Environmental Decor (referred to as "Current Decor" in the following), Average Decor this Cycle and Average Decor last Cycle.
Perceived Decor is determined by the Current Decor. It will increase if the Current Decor value is higher than its value and decrease if it's lower. That means that sudden changes will not immediately result in a low Perceived Decor. Perceived Decor constantly affects Average Decor this Cycle. Like its name suggests, this is the average value of Decor the Duplicant has perceived the cycle. At the end of each cycle, when nighttime ends, the Average Decor this Cycle is reset to Current Decor and Average Decor last Cycle will be assigned the value Average Decor this Cycle was before. For example:
A Duplicant is sleeping in their bed when nighttime ends. Their Current Decor is 120 and, because they have been there for the whole night, as is their Perceived Decor. Their average Decor this Cycle is 60. As the next cycle starts, their Average Decor last Cycle is set to 60 and their Current Decor is reset to 120.
High Decor gives a Morale bonus. If a Duplicant's Average Decor last Cycle exceeds specific values, they will get additional Morale, up to +12 for a value of at least 120.
| Average Decor last Cycle | Classification | Morale Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| < 0 | Poor | +0 |
| ≥ 0 | Mediocre | +1 |
| ≥ 30 | Average | +3 |
| ≥ 60 | Nice | +6 |
| ≥ 90 | Charming | +9 |
| ≥ 120 | Gorgeous | +12 |
List of decor values
The following table contains each building and their impact on decor, as well as the decor range the object has. As of now, it is incomplete. Just to note some of the items below can be sculptured/painted by a duplicant that has a art skill, increasing the decor depending on the quality of the artwork. Items: Blank canvas (landscape and portrait included), Ice sculpture, large/regular sculpture, etc. Also, keep in mind that a duplicant that has the art fundamentales skill will produce crude artwork, aesthetic design mediocre, and masterworks, well masterworks.
| Object | Decor | Range |
|---|---|---|
 |
48 | 10 |
  |
30 | 6 |
 |
25 | 10 |
         |
25 | 4 |
 |
24 | 5 |
 |
20 | 8 |
 |
20 | 6 |
 |
20 | 4 |
   |
15 | 3 |
 |
15 | 2 |
     |
15 | 2 |
  |
15 | 5 |
         |
10 | 2 |
  |
10 | 1 |
 |
10 | 0 |
|
5 | 8 |
 |
5 | 6 |
       |
5 | 1 |
                          |
0 | N/A |
 |
-1 | 1 |
                  |
-5 | 1 |
                                 |
-10 | 2 |
                   |
-15 | 3 |
  |
-20 | 4 |
 |
-20 | 5 |
   |
-25 | 6 |
Tips
- Due to the negative Decor, it is a good idea to either space out machinery where possible so the decor penalty can be easily countered, make it out of beautiful materials or place something with a positive decor value around its vicinity to reduce the decor penalty.
- Before placing Category:Artwork type Furniture, make sure to set the Priority chart to only allow Duplicants with the Masterworks Skill to use them and use whatever material gives the highest decor bonus (Granite, Gold Amalgam/Copper Ore, Gold) to get the most decor out of them. Duplicants with low Creativity skill will only be able to slowly create crude and mediocre paintings and "abstract" sculptures, while Masterworks Artists will always create masterpiece quality Art: "Masterpiece" paintings and "Genius" sculptures.
- Because Duplicants evaluate decor from their bottom tile, drywall being used exclusively for decor should be placed directly above the floor.